Men's Basketball pulls away from MSOE in NACC Tournament Quarterfinals

MEQUON, Wis. – The Concordia University Wisconsin Men's Basketball team used a strong second half effort to pull away from MSOE in a NACC Tournament Quarterfinal win Saturday. The Falcons, who led by four points at the break, outscored the Raiders by 11 over the final 20 minutes, gaining the 71-56 win.

CUW, the third seed in the NACC Tournament, will now face No. 2 Benedictine on Tuesday night in the semifinal round. The Eagles advanced to the semifinals thanks to a 64-55 win over Wisconsin Lutheran. CUW and Benedictine split the regular season series, each team winning on the road.

Three players paced the Falcons with double-digit point efforts Saturday, including Bradley Prinsen (Oostburg, Wis.) who had a team-best 17. Prinsen did his best work after the break, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Joining him in double-figures was junior Keith Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, Wis.) and senior Mark Scholz (Greenfield, Wis.), each tallying 14 points.

CUW was able to overcome a 31-point effort from Austin Stueck. Stueck shot 14-for-24 from the floor, but the Falcons defense held the rest of the Raiders to 21.1 percent shooting (8-for-38).

The Falcons finished the game shooting 42.6 percent from the floor, while connecting on 14-of-17 from the free throw line. CUW did a good job of getting to the line Saturday, finishing with more free throws made (14) than MSOE attempted (8).

The first half was back-and-forth as neither team held a lead of greater than two points until 3:08 remained in the half. CUW took a 30-26 lead into the break, despite sophomore Eric Kittel (Brillion, Wis.) playing just 5:44 in the first 20 minutes due to foul trouble.

The second half saw the Falcons slowly but surely build its lead, eventually seeing a 63-48 lead with 3:39 to play. CUW had a game-best 16-point lead late in the second half en route to the 15-point victory.

Nine players scored for the Falcons on Saturday with each starter netting at least six points. Junior Brett Boettcher (New Holstein, Wis.) pulled down a game-best nine rebounds, while Kahlfeldt added eight boards. Scholz also had a sound rebounding performance, with seven , four of those coming on the offensive end. Boettcher, Malcolm Bowers (Germantown, Wis.), Kahlfeldt and junior Trevor Krizenesky (Brillion, Wis.) all had two assists for CUW.

The Falcons bench outscored the Raiders by a 21-8 margin, with the 14 from Scholz pacing the CUW reserves. CUW added a 38-28 edge in points in the paint, while winning the turnover margin 12-8.